Governments are crowing about how many jobs Ontario created last month.

And so they should, since they hired almost half of them.

Statistics Canada released its Labour Force Survey Friday, making special note that Ontario’s employment rose by 35,000 jobs overall in September — the fourth gain in five months.

The province saw an increase in 78,000 full-time positions, offset in part by 43,000 fewer part-time jobs.

However, when probing deeper into the Stats Canada numbers, it turns out that almost half the jobs created in Ontario in September were in the category of public sector employee, 16,300 positions or a 1.2% increase in one month.

The public sector jobs were not broken down further into municipal, provincial or federal positions.

The private sector added 9,200 jobs for a 0.2% monthly increase, while the number of self-employed rose by 9,100 positions, an 0.8% bump over August.

Still, Ontario welcomed the overall job numbers, and used them to help justify its plan to increase the minimum wage in a series of hikes starting this month leading to a $15-an-hour wage by January 1, 2019.

While supporters see it as a positive move to counter poverty, opponents say it will kill jobs.

“The employment increase included gains in sectors such as wholesale and retail trade, and manufacturing,” a statement from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development said. “Building on this strong economic momentum, Ontario is taking historic action to create more opportunity and security for workers...This includes hiking the minimum wage, ensuring part-time workers are paid the same hourly wage as full-time workers, introducing paid sick days for every worker and stepping up enforcement of employment laws.”